Egypt dominated African cotton production for decades, from the 1960s to the early 2000s, standing far ahead of other African countries in both volume and quality.
The early 2000s marked a major turning point, as West African countries — especially Burkina Faso and Mali — began to overtake Egypt in total production.
Burkina Faso emerged as the new cotton leader between 2005 and 2015, topping production in key years like 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2012–2015, and later reclaiming the top spot in 2020 and 2022.
Mali built its cotton strength after 2015, becoming Africa’s number one producer multiple times, peaking at over 334,000 tonnes in 2019.
Benin and Côte d’Ivoire quietly closed the gap throughout the 2010s, consistently ranking in the top three, even though they didn’t dominate the number one spot.
Nigeria held the top spot in global cashew production from 2001 to 2010. This highlights a period of strong agricultural output, though the country has since been overtaken by India and Côte d'Ivoire. In recent years, Côte d'Ivoire has emerged as the world’s leading cashew producer, holding the top spot for three consecutive years as of 2022. This shift highlights the country's growing role in global cashew production. India and Mozambique once dominated global production, with India leading for 35 of the past 62 years.
Once the world’s leading cashew producer, Nigeria saw production fall below 100k tonnes in 2022 after hitting a high of 800,000 tonnes in 2009. Despite this decline, experts believe the sector could generate $2.4 billion in foreign exchange annually if production is increased.
From 1961 to 2022, Nigeria, Egypt, and Madagascar led Africa in rice production, supporting local economies and food security.
Nigeria peaked in 2017 with over 10 million tonnes, while Egypt and Madagascar also recorded strong years.
Since 2014, Nigeria has held the title of Africa's largest rice producer.
Between 2005 and 2022, Cote d'Ivoire's natural rubber production grew at an average of 12% yearly, maintaining its continental dominance. With an estimated population of nearly 29 million, the West African country produced 1.286 million tonnes in 2022, 73% of the continent's output, and placed fourth globally.
Meanwhile, Nigeria's production has grown 158% since 1961, peaking at 155 thousand tonnes in 1991.
Ghana's production has grown steadily, peaking at 117 thousand tonnes in 2022. Liberia and Cameroon complete the top five in Africa as of 2022.
Côte d'Ivoire has maintained its title of Africa's largest producer of natural rubber, increasing production by an average of 13% annually. Nigeria was Africa's largest producer of natural rubber in the early 90s until Côte d'Ivoire took the top spot in 1999. As of 2022, its production capacity was 8.6x more than Nigeria's. In 2022, Côte d'Ivoire produced 1.286 million tonnes of natural rubber; Nigeria and Ghana followed with 149.4 thousand tonnes and 117 thousand tonnes, respectively.
On average, the agricultural sector contributed 24.87% to Nigeria's GDP over the past decade. However, the sector's contribution has been declining since 2020, dropping from 26.21% to 25.18% in 2023.
The sector’s contribution grew between 2014 and 2020, rising from 22.9% to 26.21%. The sector has been plagued with challenges over the past decade, with a couple of them becoming more intense in the past few years
